THINGS are looking up for Piccadilly. Long a neglected corner of the city centre, plans to redevelop the area around the Banana Warehouse and to refurbish Ryedale House promise much-needed improvement.

If a footbridge could be built over the Foss to link Piccadilly with the Eye of York, so much the better.

The council’s sale of Reynard’s Garage for redevelopment will be another piece of the jigsaw - even if the chance of an Airspeed museum appears to have been missed.

What is notably missing, however, is any real plan for the Eye of York itself. This historic and hugely important part of York remains in use as a car park, as it has been since the 1940s.

The York Civic Trust believes it has been an eyesore for too long.

Now it is calling a meeting of interested ‘stakeholders’ - with 15 places available for members of the public - to come up with ideas for how to turn the Eye of York into a ‘world class space’ fit for the world class monument at its heart.

If the right scheme could be developed, said Civic Trust director Peter Brown, “we may be able to proceed with funding applications from other charitable trusts”.

There will be major hurdles to overcome – not least the sensitivity and importance of the area, and the cost of any scheme to improve it.

The question of how to replace any parking spaces that may be lost would also be key.

But surely all these difficulties could be resolved with the right scheme.

And it is deeply heartening to see a real debate beginning at last over what to do with this most historic area at the heart of York and Yorkshire.